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I have a tendency to romanticize everything in my head (oh, idealism!). This has a tendency to make me cynical (as nothing in real life ever lives up to the perception of perfection).

One of the downsides of social networking like Facebook is it really makes it easy for you to answer: "I wonder what ____ is up to these days." When I was in high school, I really thought my group of friends and I would conquer the world. We were smart, we were hungry, and we came from privileged backgrounds (yes, middle class is privileged!).

When I look these people up on Facebook now, I get disappointed at the ...mediocrity of their lives. These were guys whom I considered intellectual equals ... and some of them are doing the most pointless things. Some are playing the rat race and some are still searching for what they want to do. Intellectual curiority ... dashed. Wasted. What a shame.

There's a certain romanticism about falling "off the grid" ... I wonder if it's cause it hides how truly mundane real life is.

For me? I'm still searching for that spark in my life. Something to separate me from mediocrity ... something to say, "Here is my blessed life, and here is what I made of it all."

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i'm noticing that the really super intelligent people make 'less of themselves' by not accomplishing a tangible goal. i think there is such a thing as being 'too smart' when it comes to reaching a tangible and measurable goal. the smart ones always seem to think too much and when you're thinking too much, there's less time to actually make a decision and executing it. (ie, philosophers) my 2 cents.

don't you think it's still too early to say whether these peoples' lives are mediocre? we've only been out of college for a couple of years! give people a chance to smooze, climb the career ladder and figure out what they want in life :P

hey, i ended up being a teacher and not a doctor, and not to look down on teaching, I still plan on doing more in the future....

i don't look down on teaching at all - i think it's an incredibly noble calling, and one more of us should be doing (me included ... i enjoyed my one run-in with teaching, albeit they were with privileged korean kids, so it doesn't really count)

(to be honest, i don't really think medicine is that noble of a field. most people i know go into it for the money, which sort of kills it for me).

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You know, perhaps there's more to life than scoring major accomplishments. Having watched many of my own peers veer off in directions I never expected, I watched a lot of friends and acquaintances choose simple, satisfying lives over more complex struggles in pursuit of greatness. Then again, this is coming from a guy who once had great ambitions only to watch them derailed and now is trying to find a new path...

with no offense to you, my take on those people is they took the easy way out ;)

yes, there is way more to life ... but that doesn't mean choosing a simpler life is the right decision (not that it's wrong - i'm pretty sure i'll end up there too). i'm pretty sure guys like billg and warren buffett are enjoying all the benefits of life, with the mental stimulation that their positions afford them.